Last night at my son's school music show at a Naperville elementary school the theme was patriotic music. Before each song, kids would approach a microphone and make some patriotic comments etc.. Anyhow, a kid gets up there and talks about what makes it great to live in America: "turkey on Thanksgiving, fireworks on the 4th of July, parades and .... the White Sox. The place erupted. Out of 200 people, maybe 1 bitter comment. The kids were all going nuts. Can you say sea change? TRUE STORY! Have a great day!:smile:

GoSox2K3

01-19-2006, 10:08 AM

Thanks for sharing!

I'm hopeful that the Sox have now won over a bunch of youngsters as lifelong fans. I'm encouraged to hear the reaction too. I think we are going to see a monumental shift towards the White Sox in Chicago.

Unless the Flubbies win something soon, how much longer are the lovable loser and "we play in an old stadium" attraction going to work?

veeter

01-19-2006, 10:16 AM

That truly did make me feel good. thanks.

MsSoxVixen22

01-19-2006, 10:49 AM

Last night at my son's school music show at a Naperville elementary school the theme was patriotic music. Before each song, kids would approach a microphone and make some patriotic comments etc.. Anyhow, a kid gets up there and talks about what makes it great to live in America: "turkey on Thanksgiving, fireworks on the 4th of July, parades and .... the White Sox. The place erupted. Out of 200 people, maybe 1 bitter comment. The kids were all going nuts. Can you say sea change? TRUE STORY! Have a great day!:smile:

AWESOME! Nothing makes me happier when I hear or see kids that are "starting off on the right foot" by being Sox fans! One of the guys I work with told me he has his 3yr old saying Sox Rule and Cubs Drool! :tongue:

Sox-on-TV44

01-19-2006, 10:57 AM

I'm lovin' it!!!!!

Pardon the McDonald's "slogan" use!

ChiSoxLifer

01-19-2006, 11:18 AM

Last night at my son's school music show at a Naperville elementary school the theme was patriotic music. Before each song, kids would approach a microphone and make some patriotic comments etc.. Anyhow, a kid gets up there and talks about what makes it great to live in America: "turkey on Thanksgiving, fireworks on the 4th of July, parades and .... the White Sox. The place erupted. Out of 200 people, maybe 1 bitter comment. The kids were all going nuts. Can you say sea change? TRUE STORY! Have a great day!:smile:

What's up with that bitter comment in front of children? He/she doesn't like turkey or something?

SoxRulecubsdrool

01-19-2006, 12:23 PM

One of the guys I work with told me he has his 3yr old saying Sox Rule and Cubs Drool! :tongue:

Sounds like a smart kid!

Or do I think like a three year old?:tongue:

doublem23

01-19-2006, 12:35 PM

:thumbsup:

Even as far south as it is, I've always had the perception that Naperville has become very Cubified. Good to hear I'm wrong.

mjharrison72

01-19-2006, 12:55 PM

:thumbsup:

Even as far south as it is, I've always had the perception that Naperville has become very Cubified. Good to hear I'm wrong.
Naperville is not really south of the city so much as it is almost due west.
That said, growing up there, it was definietly a cub stronghold. I was one of only a few Sox fans growing up.

That said, this is an example of the tide turning. Kids don't care about visiting "Chicago's largest beer garden"... they want a winner, and the Sox have made lifelong fans out of entire generation of kids.
Imagine hearing this on the playground, and you tell me if you would still want to be a cub fan: "Why do you like the cubs? They stink. The Sox won the World Series! The cubs have never won anything."

miker

01-19-2006, 01:04 PM

Carefull, somebody will be offended and it will be illegal to use the words "White Sox" in a public school...

WSox8404

01-19-2006, 02:11 PM

People have said it before, but young children that either were not a fan of either team but of both, or too young to care too much about sports are easily changed by a winning team. It is cool to cheer for a winning team, especially a World Champion. How many kids do you see walking around now with Sox hats on? I see a ton more then kids wearing Cubs hats now. Winning the World Series has brought about a ton more fans, but some of them we will not notice for years to come until these kids start growing up.

Hitmen77

01-19-2006, 02:23 PM

:thumbsup:

Even as far south as it is, I've always had the perception that Naperville has become very Cubified. Good to hear I'm wrong.

There's definitely more Cub fans than Sox fans here in Naperville. But it's nothing like the NW suburbs where people geographically consider themselves as part of the "north side" of town.

I think the momentum is shifting here in Naperville like elsewhere. People are realizing that there are more Sox fans out here than they imagined.

Hitmen77

01-19-2006, 02:33 PM

Naperville is not really south of the city so much as it is almost due west.
That said, growing up there, it was definietly a cub stronghold. I was one of only a few Sox fans growing up.

That said, this is an example of the tide turning. Kids don't care about visiting "Chicago's largest beer garden"... they want a winner, and the Sox have made lifelong fans out of entire generation of kids.
Imagine hearing this on the playground, and you tell me if you would still want to be a cub fan: "Why do you like the cubs? They stink. The Sox won the World Series! The cubs have never won anything."

Actually 75th street runs through the middle of Naperville. That's further south than The Cell and the University of Chicago. In fact, Naperville now stretches all the way down to at least 111th Street.

But that being said, people here do perceive this as "due west" of the City and not a south or even a SW suburb.

I agree with you on the influence this has on kids. Before this year, i'm sure there was tremendous peer pressure on kids here to root for the Cubs and not the Sox. That's changed.

I also wonder if The Cell's more family-friendly setup is getting more people who don't have a strong team allegiance to take their kids to Sox games over Cub games. Like you said, kids don't care about visiting a beer garden and parents with kids aren't going to find the surrounding bars at Wrigley nearly as useful to them as easier accessibility of the Cell.

SOXPHILE

01-19-2006, 03:00 PM

There's definitely more Cub fans than Sox fans here in Naperville. But it's nothing like the NW suburbs where people geographically consider themselves as part of the "north side" of town.

I think the momentum is shifting here in Naperville like elsewhere. People are realizing that there are more Sox fans out here than they imagined.

That is, or at least, was true for the NW 'burbs. All over places like Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Wheeling, Palatine, Schaumburg, etc., you would see more people, like a 10-1 margin, wearing Cubs stuff than Sox hats or shirts. And displays at places like Sportmart, or just regular clothing stores at the local malls and shops were always overwhelmingly Cub-centric. But, since the glorious day of 10/26/05, I see more and more Sox apparel, both being worn, and sold in the stores. Ain't winning great ? The tide defiantly is turning. As #14 said during the parade & rally, I guess they'll just have to win the whole thing again. That, coupled with another futile season for the blue baby bears should stomp out the last vestiges of the whole "This is a Cubs town" thing our ears have been assaulted with since 1984.

IlliniSox4Life

01-19-2006, 06:23 PM

As far as Naperville goes, I would definately say it is/was majorly a Cubs town. At least among people my age (15-25 age bracket). However, knowing what (most of) the teenagers are like in Naperville, they tend to hop on the trendy bandwagon, which is the White Sox now. How long it will last, I would have to say depends on how long we are better than the Cubs (which should be quite a long time).

Don't get me wrong, there are some life long Sox fans in Naperville, I am friends with a few, but they mostly moved out there within the last 15 years from somewhere on the south side.

There is also a lot more Sox gear being worn wherever I am now than Cubs gear. Whether its Champaign or back up in the suburbs, I regularly see a lot more Sox gear.

Even when I was in Florida this Christmas Break, I was at Busch Gardens, and counted 4 other people with the EXACT SAME sox hat (on the field world series hat) as me, let alone a bunch others with just any Sox hat on. I think the ratio was about a 3:2 ratio of All other MLB Teams:Sox hats that I saw down there. It was pretty cool.

MadetoOrta

01-19-2006, 06:25 PM

:thumbsup:

Even as far south as it is, I've always had the perception that Naperville has become very Cubified. Good to hear I'm wrong.

Naperville is by no means cubified. On 10-26-06, you should have heard the fireworks going off all over town for hours! :bandance:

Ol' No. 2

01-19-2006, 06:31 PM

Sometimes kids are smarter than adults. They see clearly that

winning >>>> ivy

rookie

01-22-2006, 10:48 PM

I teach in Naperville.

Before I would say that Naperville was definitely a Cub town.

Though starting in June I told my sister that Sox fans were starting to come out of the woodwork.

Many of my students were cheering for the Sox (not that I influenced them in anyways with Sox stickers, Sox cookies, Sox cupcakes :D: ) and I had quite a few Cub fans that switched over...and have not completely switched back yet.

Maybe a sea-change is coming on...

Nellie_Fox

01-23-2006, 01:54 AM

Even though it is clearly a western suburb (the further out you get, the wider an area that encompasses) most of Naperville is south of 35th Street in Chicago. Look at a map.

When I first started working there in 1973, it was far more of a Sox town. The yuppification shifted the balance. I remember reading that the average Napervillian only stays for about four years, then it is onward and upward on the corporate ladder, off to another city. It is to be expected that people who never stay in one town for very long would jump on the trendy bandwagon wherever they are.

mrwag

01-23-2006, 09:11 AM

Down here in the FAR southern suburb of Knoxville, TN :) I'm doing my best to spread the word! I've also got my 1st grader spreading the gospel!

steff

01-23-2006, 01:08 PM

Actually 75th street runs through the middle of Naperville. That's further south than The Cell and the University of Chicago. In fact, Naperville now stretches all the way down to at least 111th Street.

Even further.. 127th street!!! The gas station on the NE corner of 59 and 127th has a Naperville mailing address.. and the one on the the SW corner a Plainfield one. It's weird..

Ol' No. 2

01-23-2006, 01:12 PM

Even further.. 127th street!!! The gas station on the NE corner of 59 and 127th has a Naperville mailing address.. and the one on the the SW corner a Plainfield one. It's weird..Mailing addresses don't always coincide with city boundaries. There's a subdivision in Aurora in which the developer scammed the USPS into assigning them to the Naperville post office. My recollection is that 111th street was the agreed-upon boundary.

steff

01-23-2006, 01:16 PM

Mailing addresses don't always coincide with city boundaries. There's a subdivision in Aurora in which the developer scammed the USPS into assigning them to the Naperville post office. My recollection is that 111th street was the agreed-upon boundary.

From what we've been told assignment to the PO has nothing to do with the physical address. Both Joliet and Planifield handle my mail. Sometimes 2 different mailmen deliver in the same day.

Regardless, the cut off is further then 111th.

Mickster

01-23-2006, 01:39 PM

From what we've been told assignment to the PO has nothing to do with the physical address. Both Joliet and Planifield handle my mail. Sometimes 2 different mailmen deliver in the same day.

Regardless, the cut off is further then 111th.

You are correct. The cutoff is, in fact, 127th St to the south but only the east side of Rt. 59 is considered Naperville (as is the case with the Southpoint subdivision on the east side of Rt. 59.) Champion Creek subdivision, right across Rt. 59 from Southpoint is considered Plainfield?!?

If you venture west on 111th, past Rt. 59, it somehow changes back to Naperville as 2 new high-end subdivisions (Ashwood Park and Ashwood Creek) have Naperville addresses.

Ol' No. 2

01-23-2006, 01:47 PM

From what we've been told assignment to the PO has nothing to do with the physical address. Both Joliet and Planifield handle my mail. Sometimes 2 different mailmen deliver in the same day.

Regardless, the cut off is further then 111th.The case of the Aurora subdivision with a Naperville mailing address gained quite a bit of noteriety, not least because the Aurora politicians were incensed over the deal. Once the USPS assigns an mailing location to a particular post office, no power on heaven or earth can change it. It could be in Tibet, but if the USPS says it's a Naperville mailing address, it's a Naperville address.

ondafarm

01-23-2006, 02:00 PM

When I grew up in Lisle, most of the older families were Sox fans pretty solid. The subdivisions tended to bleed Cubbie blue and the school I attended was pretty solid Flubs. The bar I drank at was a haven for Sox fans though and was one of the first to get the lousy SportsChannel package when Einhorn yanked the games off free TV. My parents (still residents) and quite obvious Sox fans tell me that more and more support comes from the subdivisions, but Flubs fans have not been hunted to extinction just yet.

salty99

01-23-2006, 02:19 PM

If you think Naperville and Plainfield is confusing ..try figuring out Joliet/Plainfield/Shorewood. I know people who technically live in Joliet city limits near Kendall County who have Plainfield mailing addresses. They call it Jofield.

Soxfanspcu11

01-23-2006, 02:33 PM

On 10-26-06, you should have heard the fireworks going off all over town for hours! :bandance:

Wisful thinking???:D:

longshot7

01-23-2006, 02:59 PM

Even though it is clearly a western suburb (the further out you get, the wider an area that encompasses) most of Naperville is south of 35th Street in Chicago. Look at a map.

When I first started working there in 1973, it was far more of a Sox town. The yuppification shifted the balance. I remember reading that the average Napervillian only stays for about four years, then it is onward and upward on the corporate ladder, off to another city. It is to be expected that people who never stay in one town for very long would jump on the trendy bandwagon wherever they are.

I believe that number has changed in recent years - I know A LOT of people that have lived in Naperville their whole lives, so although there are definite transients, I think the majority of residents are lifers.

I mean, considering the price of a home there, if you could afford one, why would you move anywhere else?

Ol' No. 2

01-23-2006, 03:06 PM

I believe that number has changed in recent years - I know A LOT of people that have lived in Naperville their whole lives, so although there are definite transients, I think the majority of residents are lifers.

I mean, considering the price of a home there, if you could afford one, why would you move anywhere else?Among Chicago natives I think it's split pretty nearly 50:50 between Sox and Cubs. Among non-natives I think it was at least 2:1 for the Cubs. The reasons are many, but all those games carried on WGN Superstation is a big part of it. Suburbs that get a high percentage of non-natives generally were heavily Cubs-centric. It's definately shifting. Non-natives don't have the allegience that natives do and everybody loves a winner.

thomas35forever

01-23-2006, 06:53 PM

What A Story That Was!!!!!! Hopefully, The Sox Have Won Over A Whole New Generation Of Mostly Sox Fans!! God Bless America!!!!!!!